Bengaluru: According to a survey by Gartner, Inc., PC shipments worldwide has witnessed a decline of 9.5 percent in the second quarter of 2015 when compared to the second quarter of 2014. This was by far the biggest margin of negative growth the PC shipments sector has experienced since the third quarter of 2013. Furthermore, Gartner also predicted the PC shipments to decrease by 4.4 percent in 2015.

The panel of analysts at Gartner highlighted three out of the many reasons that led to this decline in PC shipments. They stressed on the fact that these were temporary events that do not influence the structure of PC marketing. and the PC industry is expected to have a slow and steady growth in 2016.

“The price hike pof PCs became more apparent in some regions due to sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar against local currencies,” says Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst, Gartner. “The price hike could hinder the PC demand in these regions. Secondly, the worldwide PC market experienced an unusually positive desk-based growth last year due to the end of Windows XP support. After the XP impact was phased out, there have not been any major growth drivers to stimulate a PC refresh. Lastly, the Windows 10 launch scheduled for 3Q15 had created self-regulated inventory control. PC vendors and the channels tried clearing inventory as much before the Windows 10 launch”.

Lenovo remained on top of the list of worldwide PC shipments in the second quarter of 2015, while it also suffered from a year-on-year decline in its shipping for the first time since the second quarter of 2013. HP saw a considerable decline in its shipping in EMEA while Latin America, Japan and EMEA remained a mystery for Lenovo. PC shipments in EMEA saw a 15.7 percent decline in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the second quarter of 2014 while in APAC the decline rate was 2.9 percent.

HP too suffered a decline in its shipping after experiencing an upward growth for five consecutive quarters. The tight inventory controls in the consumer market due to the scheduled Windows 10 launch affected Lenovo and HP adversely. Even though Dell’s PC shipments declined for the second consecutive year, its decline rate was less in EMEA when compared to Lenovo and HP. This could be attributed to Dell’s relatively smaller presence in the market.

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled to 15.1 million units in the second quarter this year experiencing a 5.8 percent decline rate when compared to the second quarter of 2014. This was led by a double-digit decline in desk-based shipments. This decline was the steepest ever since the economic crisis of 2009 which affected the market badly.